Pop wasn't a mystery genre opposed to hip-hop's aspirations it was a method, a strategy, a toolkit to achieve them. It reconciled, definitively, the question of blowing up or going pop: no compromise was required. It recreated California from top to bottom in the popular imagination, propelled a new generation of multi-platinum stars, and its impact across the country was, even in hip-hop, unprecedented in its influence. When The Chronic hit like a shockwave at the end of 1992, its sound defined a generation of rap stars and fans, a wave impossible to underestimate. Even if this album doesn't make it to that center-after all, times have changed- Compton is proof that this unifying sensibility remains at the center of his art. Dre release, from the chip on its shoulder to the occasional shock-misogyny to his incomparable pop instincts, a lineage that has placed him at the center of American song. It's busier than his earlier, more stripped-down records, and built upon the sound of a contemporary, more bohemian Los Angeles music scene. Inspired, Dre says, by Straight Outta Compton, the film celebrating the story of Dre and N.W.A, Compton is-like many Los Angeles hip-hop records these days by young and old alike-steeped in the city's long history with hip-hop. Presented on a platter through Apple Music, the company Dre says made him hip-hop's first billionaire, it's a shockingly strong album, a confident statement that upends expectations of a 50-year-old who's spent more time over the past decade in board rooms and bulking up than releasing music. Dre's third official album, arrived on telephones coast-to-coast this week.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |